18 protesters arrested: Microsoft claims 'vandalism and property damage,' protesters claim 'genocide powered by Microsoft technology'
After police dispersed them on Tuesday, "No Azure for Apartheid" protestors returned to Microsoft's East Campus Plaza in Redmond, Washington on Wednesday to continue protesting the tech giant's dealings with Israel, which allegedly include the use of its Azure cloud platform to surveil Palestinians and select Gaza bombing targets.
This time, 18 protesters were arrested for charges including "trespassing, malicious mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction."
According to Redmond police, "a few protesters had poured paint over the Microsoft sign and on the ground" (red paint to symbolize blood) and "others had blocked a pedestrian bridge and were using stolen tables and chairs from vendors to form a barrier."
In a statement sent to PC Gamer, protest organizers said that "Microsoft chose to militarize its campus to harass, attack and violently arrest 18 people who refused to be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine."
A Microsoft spokesperson told PC Gamer that protestors "engaged in vandalism and property damage" and "disrupted, harassed, and took tables and tents from local small businesses at a lunchtime farmer's market for employees."
Israel's attacks on Gaza, allegedly with the help of Microsoft's services, have killed at least 62,000 people since October 2023, including thousands of children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Over 200 people have now died of malnutrition, the ministry says, and according to the UN, over 1,000 aid seekers in Gaza have been killed since May. Israel has also killed hundreds of aid workers, at one point burying 15 in a mass grave, the UN reports. The country's military recently killed four journalists in Gaza, the latest of many.
"As we have made clear, Microsoft is committed to its human rights standards and contractual terms of service, including in the Middle East," said Microsoft's spokesperson. "The company announced last week that it is pursuing a thorough and independent review of new allegations first reported earlier this month about the purported use of its Azure platform in Israel."
Those allegations appeared in an investigation by The Guardian, which claimed that Israel has used Azure to construct "a sweeping and intrusive system that collects and stores recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank" and which "facilitated the preparation of deadly airstrikes and has shaped military operations in Gaza and the West Bank."
The protestors, composed of "community members and current and former Microsoft workers," declared Microsoft's East Campus Plaza a "Liberated Zone," renaming it the "Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza."
"As we recognize the sacrifice made by those arrested today, we also recognize that the militarism, physical violence and detentions perpetrated by the Redmond Police Department pale in comparison to the experiences Palestinians are forced to endure on a daily basis," said No Azure for Apartheid in its statement.
Microsoft says it's doing "the hard work needed to uphold its human rights standards in the Middle East" as well as "supporting and taking clear steps to address unlawful actions that damage property, disrupt business or that threaten and harm others."
No injuries were reported as a result of the protest or arrests, according to police.
"Our message to [Microsoft CEO] Satya Nadella and other executives who are shamelessly shaking hands with Israeli war criminals to sign deals for genocidal technology is this: our movement will not stop, we will not rest, and we will continue to apply pressure," say the protesters, who have published their demands at noazureforapartheid.com. "We will show up to confront, disrupt, and take action in every place, at every moment, both announced and unannounced. Escalations will continue as long as Microsoft is invested in the economy of occupation and genocide."